Nintendo World Store Closes to Power Up

Vacations to New York City to visit the Nintendo World Store should be postponed because it'll be closed for a couple of weeks.

New York City's Rockefeller Center might have a neat ice skating rink, some television studios, and a giant Christmas tree on display every year, but the real highlight of the area is the two-story 10,000 square-foot Nintendo World Store. The equivalent of Mecca for any Nintendo fan, the store opened in 2005 and is a gigantic attraction that holds many special events and was a great place to wait in huge lines for a Wii when the consoles were once hard to find. That level of awesomeness just isn't enough for Nintendo, as the store ate a mushroom and will be closed until November 1 so it can finish growing.

That is to say, the Nintendo World Store is undergoing renovations to become even bigger and better than it was before. It's already a gorgeous, futuristic space that features many DS and Wii demo stations, massive amounts of Pokemon merchandise, tons of Nintendo apparel, unique collectibles like Animal Crossing plushies, and more Wii and DS games than you can shake a Wii Remote at.

The store is being aesthetically redesigned with new graphics. new lighting, and new flooring. Also being added are features like new DSi and DSi XL demo stations, and probably secret areas where Nintendo plans to show off the Nintendo 3DS when it comes out next year. The size of the Nintendo Showcase, featuring Nintendo "products and artifacts," will be doubled as well.

Thought the store will be open again on November 1, it's holding a daylong grand re-opening event on November 7. In the past, the Nintendo World Store has hosted the likes of Shigeru Miyamoto, the voice of Mario Charles Martinet, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, and Justin Bieber, though details and possible appearances for the November 7 event aren't yet known.